Imagining America

The Simpsons Go Global

Bibliographic Data

ID7513152
AuthorsJonathan Gray (0000-0001-6668-5899, Fordham University, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume5
Issue2
Pages129-148
Publication date2007-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePopular Communication (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1540-5702 • E-ISSN: 1540-5710
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/15405700701294111
OpenAlexW1889252160
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited17

This article interrogates the Americanization/cultural imperialism thesis’ presumptions about the textual encoding of “America” by examining the semiotics and reception of notions of America in the global hit television program, The Simpsons. While in recent years, the cultural imperialism thesis has been both questioned and revised from a variety of angles, often the key assumption remains that all American cultural products are encoded with a uniform and chauvinistic attitude that promotes America as a nation and culture, and that champions contemporary American capitalist values. This article examines both the text of The Simpsons and its reception by a group of international viewers, showing how, contrary to many of its televisual colleagues, one of America's most globally successful television products may actually be circulating a parodic-satiric suspicion of America and American capitalist values

Americanization · Cultural imperialism · Culture of the United States · Epistemology · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Popular culture · Semiotics · Semiotics of culture · Sociology · Variety (cybernetics · Anthropology · Humor Studies and Applications · Media Studies and Communication · Media, Gender, and Advertising · Cultural Studies · Law · Philosophy

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub